Elastic fluid turbine for ship propulsion



Nov. 14, 1939. J. H. DORAN ELASTIC FLUID TURBINE FOR SHIP PROPULSION 2SheetS-Sheet' 1 Filed Sept. 11, 1957 Nov. 14, 1939. J. H. D RAN I2,180,140

ELASTIC FLUID TURBINE FOR SHIP PROPULSION Filed Sept. 11, 1937 2Sheets-Sheet 2 V V n 1 1" Inventor. John H. Dorom,

9 ywy f is Attorney.

Patented Nov. 14, 1939 ELASTIO FLUID TURBINE FOR snip PROPULSION I AJohn H. Doran, Scotia, N. Y., assignor to General Electric Company, acorporation of New York Application September 11, 1937, Serial No.163,505

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to elastic fluid turbines which areprimarily intended for propelling ships either through an electricgenerator and one or more electric motors receiving current from thegenerator or through speed reducing metallic gearing.

As is well known, the available space in ships for the propellingapparatus is limited, particularly with respect to the head room, andtherefore every effort has to be made to reduce the size of theapparatus as much as possible consistent with the power required, andparticularly in its vertical dimensions.-

The object of my invention is the provision of a turbine structure ofimproved construction whereby the head room required for its utilizationis substantially reduced.

For a consideration of what I believe to be novel and my invention,attention is directed to the accompanying description and the claimsappended thereto.

In the drawings which are illustrative of my invention, Fig. 1 is aperspective view of a turbine and its exhaust housing; Fig. 2 is across-section of the turbine and its condenser, said section being takenon line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a slightly modifiedarrangement of the turbine and condenser, and Fig. 4 is a perspectiveview of a further modification.

5 indicates the turbine which may be of any suitable construction. Itmay be taken as representing a complete turbine or only the low pressureelement thereof. As shown, it represents a low pressure elementoperating on the divided flow plan. Steam or other elastic fluid isadmitted to the supply chamber or chest 6 by the conduit '1, and flowsfrom the chamber to the buckets 8 of the rotor through ports 9. Thearrangement is such that the steam flows in opposite axial directionsfrom the supply chamber and exhausts at both ends of the rotor into theexhaust housing Ill as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1 and by thearrows II in Fig. 2. The particular construction of the rotor and theway the steam acts thereon is not material to an understanding of myinvention. The turbine is supported on both sides by longitudinallyextending beams which are parallel to the turbine shaft l2. The righthand beam I3 is of I-beam con struction having a solid vertical webwhich also forms a part of the exhaust housing I I]. The left hand beamI4 is differently constructed. having top and bottom members l5 and l5?with vertical and diagonal braces Hi to strengthen it and also to afiordan exit opening for the exhaust steam from the rotor. The end walls Illof the exhaust housing in addition to confining the steam therein alsoclose the ends of the passage or opening in the left hand beam l4through which a part of the exhaust steam flows to the condenser. M withlattice work or braces resides in the fact that a large opening is thusafforded for the passage of steam into the condenser. As will beappreciated, a free steam. passage between the turbine and condenserimproves the efliciency of the turbine. The beams on both sides of theturbine are supported at the rear by a vertical wall H, the latter beingsupported by a bottom wall of the ship. The front or right hand ends ofthe beams are supported by a vertical plate l8 attached to an overheadbeam, for example a deck beam, of the ship, said plate being capable ofbending to permit of axial movements of the turbine casing due toexpansion and contraction. In this instance, the vertical wall ll isfixed in position and since the rear end of the turbine is anchoredthereto, the movements of the casingare taken care of by the yielding orbending of the plate l8.

Because of the limited head room available, the condenser I9 is locatedwholly on one side of the turbine, in this the left hand side, and bothit and the turbine are wholly supported by the beams l3 and I4. As shownin Fig. 2, the condenser is located below the horizontal axial plane ofthe turbine shaft. If the turbine is to be located on the opposite sideof the ship, the arrangement will be reversed so that the condenser willbe on the right hand side, the construction of the parts being otherwisethe same. By 10- cating thecondenser wholly on one side of the turbine,the upper half of the casing can be lifted withoutinterfering with thecondenser, and converselythe condenser can be opened or removed Withoutinterfering with the turbine. By arranging the condenser as shown, thatis extending it upwardly to the approximate level of the plane ofdivision of the turbine casing, the total height of the turbine andcondenser is reduced without making any sacrifice in the size of thecondenser.

The lower wall of the exhaust housing l0 extends diagonally from thebeam l3 to a point near the bottom of the condenser casing 2!, saidcasing being secured thereto and to beam M by suitably spaced bolts. Thecurved lines 22 indicate the bottom walls of the ship. It will be notedthat by the arrangement described, the turbine may be located nearer theside of the An advantage in constructing the beam ship where the headroom is necessarily reduced by reason of the curvature of the bottom ofthe ship while the condenser is located where the head room is greater.It will also be noted that the bottom wall of the condenser casingclosely approaches the bottom of the ship but is out of contacttherewith. It will be further noted that the entire weight of thecondenser which is located wholly on one side of the turbine isnevertheless supported by the same longitudinal beams l3 and M whichsupport the turbine. To reduce the weight, the casing of the condenserand the wall 20 of the exhaust housing may be made of plate stock andwelded or otherwise fused to form the desired shape.

In Fig. 3, the condenser 19 while supported by the turbine and thehorizontal beams I3 and M, as in the previous figures, has been raisedso that parts of it are above as well as below the axial plane of theturbine casing. This arrangement is desirable where the available headroom of the ship in which the turbine is located is low. With thisconstruction, it becomes necessary to unbolt the upper half of thecondenser casing in order to remove the upper half of the turbinecasing, and while not so convenient as that of Figs. 1 and 2, its use isjustified in certain types of ships where head room is at a greatpremium.

In Fig. 4 is shown a further modification of my invention where theturbine and condenser are directly opposite each other and occupy aboutthe same vertical space as in Fig. 3. It differs, however, by theinclusion of certain of the vertical beams of the ship between theturbine and the condenser instead of locating said beams at the ends ofthe turbine. In this figure, 5 indicates the turbine which is supportedby longitudinally extending beams I3 and [4 both of which have solidwebs and form parts of the wall of the exhaust housing as before. Thecasing of the turbine is split in a vertical axial plane instead of ahorizontal. 23 indicates parallel vertical beams of the ship. They maybe supported by parts of the structure of the ship at or near the lowestpart or the bottom thereof, and at their tops may assist in supportingthe deck above. The vertical beams are connected by cross beams 24 whichextend longitudinally of the ship and may be of any suitable section.The beams 53 and M are connected at their ends to form parts of theexhaust housing and the flanges 25 are bolted or otherwise secured tothe vertical beams 23 and to the longitudinal beams 24. The beams 23 and24 are connected by braces 26 in a manner similar to that shown in Fig.l. The area of the braces is relatively small so that they offer littleresistance to the flow of exhaust steam from the turbine to thecondenser. As will be seen, the turbine supporting beams are bolted tothe casing of the condenser with certain of the ships beams locatedbetween them, whereas in Fig. 1 the beams are supported at theirrespective ends. This tends to make a somewhat more compact arrangement.The condenser has a flanged opening 21 to receive a conduit admittingcooling water thereto, and 28 indicates a conduit for removingcondensate. 29 indicates one of the vertical supporting members withinthe ship structure and may be taken as a part of a bulkhead orstrengthening member extending fore and aft. It is secured to the beams23 and 24.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is:

1. A marine turbine installation comprising an elastic fluid turbine, anexhaust housing therefor terminating in a vertical plane, a condenserfor the turbine having a casing that also terminates in a verticalplane, a beam extending parallel with the turbine axis located betweenthe turbine and the condenser and forming a support common to both, thebeam covering a part of the condenser entrance and containing an openingthrough which a part of the turbine exhaust flows in entering thecondenser, and means for supporting the beam in horizontal position.

2. A marine installation comprising an elastic fluid turbine located atthe side of the ship having a casing and an exhaust housing, the latterextending laterally under the turbine and terminating at one sidethereof in a vertical plane nearer the center of the ship than theturbine itself, horizontal beams for supporting the turbine extendingfore and aft of the ship, one of the beams defining a part of theexhaust housing, the second beam extending across the open end of theexhaust housing and cut away in line with the opening to permit thepassage of exhaust from the turbine therethrough, a condenser having acasing secured to exhaust housing and to the second beam, the condenserbeing located nearer the fore and aft center of the ship than theturbine, and upright members carried by the structural part of the shipfor supporting the horizontal beams.

3. A marine installation comprising horizontal beams extending fore andaft of the ship defining an opening through which exhaust is free toflow, upright members of the ship structure supporting the horizontalbeams, a turbine located wholly on one side of the beams and supportedthereby, the exhaust therefrom flowing through the opening, a condenserlocated wholly on the opposite side of the beams and supported thereby,means for securing both the turbine and condenser to the beams, and anexhaust housing for the turbine secured to the beams for conveyingexhaust from the turbine through the opening in the beams into thecondenser.

JOHN H. DORAN.

